Day 1

In Waco, TX where I spent most of my years growing up there was a big traffic circle downtown that was famous for its crashes because of the lack of moderating incoming/outgoing traffic. There was a restaurant on the circle where you could get a souvenir matchbox that said, "I survived the circle." Well I need one of those match boxes that says, "I survived the first six weeks."

Of course everyone tries to warn you, but you just gotta find out for yourself...and now I know that those first six weeks after giving birth are quite trying, from the lack of sleep to taking ten minutes to change a dirty diaper only to have him spray all over your face and make a dirty diaper just as soon as you've gotten a new one on, to the complicated decisions of whether to get dressed, take a nap, or catch up on “Lost” in your 5 "free" minutes / day, to the "what did I get myself into?" to the guilt for wondering "what did I get myself into?"...if ever you have a kid, I don't need to go on and if you don't have a kid, well you just got to experience it to understand. (Not to discourage anyone…you get past it, you get to know each other...now he’s at that wonderful age where he is becoming aware of his hands and feet and will laugh and kick with all his might every time you rub his belly or his cheek and he has long conversations with me, his daddy, the mobile, the television, the ceiling…its wonderful…so hang in there!)

The only thing I can compare it to is the one marathon I ran so far...the San Francisco Nike Marathon in the fall of 2006 (gorgeous time of year in SF!!!)...overall a wonderful experience that just like motherhood, I was 100% sure I was ready for, I trained for it, I looked forward to it...I pictured myself crying tears of joy as I passed the finish line, but somewhere around mile 19 of 26.2 I asked myself..."what the !@#^&* did I get myself into!?"

Of course both of these experiences were absolutely worth it and once I got through that mile 19-26.2 and the first six months I laughed at myself for what a whuss I had been. But immediately after both of these experiences I said exactly the same thing to myself. I absolutely plan on doing this again but not for the next million years.

Well here I am, a million years later, having forgotten all the hard work, the whole experience having become idealized with time: week 1 of training for the NYC marathon this November. My baby is now 11 weeks and I am ready to do this: loose that baby fat, get back in shape, etc....(oh and I heard and believe from experiencing that running indirectly improves memory...and mine is going faster than it takes my baby to burp up half his meal...what was I saying?).

So I decided to keep a blog sharing my experience in case there are any other crazy mothers like me who need to know they are not alone. I hope to humor, encourage and share any advice I pick up along the way.

This morning, after nursing my baby and packing a stroller full of water, rain covers (since NY1 said it would rain on and off throughout the day but was not any more specific), pacifiers (in case he decides to angrily protest the run just when I'm too far to turn around / pl. because he will be sure to drop at least one), and a misc. of other non-necessities, I was off at 10:00 in the morning for my first run.

It turns out the jogging stroller that all my running buddies got me from my baby registry tells you in the maintenance guide after you've already bought the stroller that even though the website recommends the stroller for babies 2 months and up, they do not recommend you jog with it until your baby is 8 months...and that wouldn't do me any good unless I was planning on running with him in the marathon...so we'll save that for the next marathon (in Rio De Janeiro http://www.maratonadorio.com.br/, right E? Meanwhile, I am running down the cracked, bumpy, dog-poop-infested, annoyed-pedestrian-crowded sidewalks of Queens pushing my baby in my Eddie Bauer cruiser.

Oh yeah...gotta take a moment here now that I've mentioned it, Dog-Owners: when you leave your dog's poop in the middle of the sidewalk, it is then picked up on the soles of feet and the wheels of strollers and carried into homes where children walk and babies crawl with hands that they love to put into their mouths. Please think about this!

Well now that I got that little bit of venting out of the way, back to the run...it was actually a beautiful day today, not hot and humid yet, that rain never did come 'till much later, the sun was out but I used a blanket to keep it out of his eyes, and I made it 1 mile without stopping except to occasionally put the pacifier back in his mouth. That's better than I did my first time around while training for San Francisco back in 2006, I became winded after about four blocks and had to walk home, wheezing, and took 30 min. just to catch my breath. This time, not only did I make it a mile, but I actually took about a half mile walk after that.

Might I mention that I am not a fast runner at all...I did not time myself, but I'm guessing it took me anywhere from 12-20 min. I am also not a scarecrow with long, strong legs. I have just lost enough baby fat to almost fall into the “normal” category of the BMI. If I take one minute less than the 6 1/2 hrs it took me to run SF to run NYC, I will be ecstatic. All the joy is in the journey for this runner.

...more to come on gear for the full chested, milk spewing, runners and other such joys.

;-)